Being mindful of the pollinators, the crews called VDOT Chesterfield Residency’s hobbyist beekeepers, Bruce McFadden, Melvin Morrison and Butch Sirry to help. Once the hives were removed, they were safely relocated to the nearby Huguenot Beekeepers Association. With nearly 60,000 bees in each hive, the moves saved approximately 120,000 honey bees’ lives.

“Honey bees are vital to the environment, so we didn’t want to harm them. Our crews also could have been stung if they disturbed the trees without safely removing the hives,” said Bruce McFadden, Chesterfield Assistant Residency Administrator.

“It was rewarding to use our hobby on the job to save bees’ lives,” said Butch Sirry, Chesterfield Residency team member and beekeeper, “We were able to make the roadsides safer for the public, keep our workers safe and better the environment by rescuing the honey bees.”

Information in VDOT news releases was accurate at the time the release was published. For the most current information about projects or programs, please visit the project or program Web pages. You may find those by searching by keyword in the search Virginia DOT box above.

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